What a picture can tell (HONY)
by SirAtreides
Summary: Draco Malfoy is interviewed by no other than Brandon, the Humans of New York creator. He sits back on a Central Park bench while he tells the story of his life and love. AU/No Magic


Draco was nervous. He was afraid as well.

That guy said the picture would be up in a couple hours – at least that's what he told him over text.

Would people recognize him? He hoped not. Brandon only took pictures of his torso and hands, or whatever that camera could capture from a guy sitting on a bench in Central Park. He didn't mind it much since he thought that nobody would recognize a guy with only a black suit, but then he also had his tattoo. Who could say that one stupid teenage mistake would point him out in a crowd. How common were skulls eating up a snake to all this? He wished he had known.

 _Pop._

He had a notification. A text. The picture was up.

 _I liked your story, I'll do a compilation of many if the post gets popular. Hope you like it_ , the text read.

 _Thanks_ , Draco replied only to go to Facebook and look for the picture. **Humans of New York** , very clever.

It wasn't as bad as he had expected it. It was only a shot of his elbows resting on his knees. You could see a bit of his torso and the bench, but his legs disappeared in the bottom of the shot. He went ahead and read the quote.

/

" _I was born in a place where different is wrong. My parents were strict, and my family was even more pushing than what they were. Almost all of them followed the rules without questioning them, and those who did were cast out of our lives immediately, so I rarely came across other opinions and the like. I wouldn't say that they didn't love me, but I would say that they were close-minded and that reflected on how well they knew me. I grew up living the life of wealthiest and where the lower, or even the middle-class were looked down upon, like they were savages._ _That until I went to boarding school at eleven._

 _I kept telling my peers that my parents wanted to send me to another school, not far away, that only took in upper class kids from old families but was sent to this one instead because my mother didn't want me to be too far. It was a lie, all of that: I begged my parents to let me go to that school. I wanted to know people without having to ask their last names to know if we could talk or even look at them. The only thing I wanted to do was to do my own thing, go to the college I wanted to go, have the friends I wanted. I wanted to be myself._

 _I had to keep my acquaintances with upper class kids, pretend to be really close, but I guess all of us knew that out friendships weren't based on common liking but convenience._ _I slowly gained real friends and courage to stand up to my family. Near my graduation we got into this pretty big argument and everyone was against what I believed. I was ultimately kicked out, but I don't think of it as my loss. I was welcomed into my uncle's house with open arms and supported by my friends at all times. I felt like I had it all"._

 _/_

Slowly, Draco's picture gained likes and comments. People were cheering for him, his happiness, his friends, his uncle. Some were cursing his family and he felt uncomfortable. Not happy, not angry, just uncomfortable. Others were looking down on Draco for leaving his family behind in that way. Draco already knew he couldn't please everyone, so he went ahead and kept reading the comments that stormed into his pictures. He wanted to reply the good comments, but he wouldn't give away his identity.

 _It's a big success! I'll post more pictures in no time_ , Brandon wrote again.

It was 6 p.m. when he posted another picture.

This one was more of a close-up of his face. His jaw and neck to be exact. You could see he was tense, and his Adam's apple was popping out as well.

 _/_

 _Part (2/6)_

" _It was boarding school where I met her._ _I was eleven and immature. My best way to approach her was to show her off my worst side, the one I put out to my family and rich friends. I was really mean to her, called her the worst insult we had at the time. I made her cry, then felt bad about for the longest time._ _Later on, she kind of hated me, but I approached and asked for forgiveness. I was sincere, but I was honestly expecting her to send me off. She instead took my apology. I never felt so happy in my life._

 _When we grew up and I wasn't such a twat I took on her to grow as a person. I wanted to be all what she was: Smart, brave, loyal. I went to every class and learned from her, then when we were friends I tried to learn even more about her. We ended up dating by our fourth year, but I reckon it took me a lot of effort. She wasn't an easy catch._ _I loved her a lot._

 _She was the one who made me think that I had to tell my parents what I wanted of my life."_

 _/_

Would she notice? Did she even know about the existence of HONY? Did she even have a Facebook anymore? Many questions popped into Draco's mind. All of them about a certain brunette.

The next picture was a shot of his neck down, from when he laid back his head on the bench with his arms stretched and his legs crossed.

 _/_

 _Part (3/6)_

" _Unfortunately, even before I spoke to my parents, the double life I had been living took a toll on me._

 _I was severely depressed and had no energy left. It had been 17 years of lying to my parents, family and friends, I couldn't take anymore. So, I ditched both. The side of my life that made me miserable and the part that made me happy, both together. I knew that my shithole could only grow bigger and I wanted to take as little victims as possible._

 _I dumped her one morning and ignored her in every way possible. It was immature, but it was the only way I knew of coping with it at that age. I know it hurt her a lot. It also took a toll on her. I was drifting away, hooking up with girls I didn't even know, making up stories to keep my friends away, and she resented that._

 _When I spoke to my parents I felt ready to let her know that I was okay, but at that time she had already pushed me out of her life and I was only a bad memory, one of those guys you date before "the one" so to speak. Going back and forth into our relationship trying to bring it back was the thing that killed it."_

 _/_

Draco loosening his tie was the next picture. No face, just his body.

 _/_

 _Part (4/6)_

" _When I told my family about all my concerns, my mom was the only one that listened carefully. When I mentioned her, my mother asked me if I was sure of what I wanted. After that she didn't stop my father from kicking me out but she never stopped calling to check on me._

 _I left right after graduation, so I didn't see many of my friends besides the ones that could bear with me and my radical change. Very few did, and my best friend (whom I pushed away as much as I pushed her) wasn't one of them, and in fact followed her along others. It's funny how many of my memories of him became of them together and not of us._

 _Anyway, I traveled around the United Kingdom for a while. Then I applied to college here, in the States. One of those friends that I made in my down period stuck with me until then. It didn't last long, we had to grow up after all. When he left I felt like the past was behind – no more parties, no more alcohol, no more feeling bad. I was free."_

 _/_

Draco investigated the next picture more carefully. You could see a glance of his tattoo, but it wasn't as much to give him away. Just the belly of a snake showing. This picture did show his hair thought. But at this point who cared. If she read it, she'd know anyway.

 _/_

 _Part (5/6)_

" _We relinked when I finished college._

 _I was visiting Cali for a job offer and asked for a host in an alumnae group. She immediately replied and said she had a spare room if I wanted it. I didn't even know she lived in California until that moment._

 _I thought that maybe she forgot about me, or that it was a different girl. But it was her, leaving behind whatever made us grow apart in the first place – and then it hit me. We were adults now, she wasn't the teenage girl who fell for me, but the problem is that I didn't know if I wasn't that teenage boy who fell for her._

 _I accepted anyway. Nothing was to happen, nothing at all. I was only going to occupy a room in her house. Then I'd leave and maybe we would talk a little from time to time after that, but that was all… at best. Maybe we would go back to ignoring each other's existence like before. It was only a matter of time telling._

 _When I arrived at Cali, and then her house, I was so nervous to see the girl I loved so much once. But I couldn't see her. When she opened the door, I was left speechless. That girl wasn't the same: She had bruises and her eyes yelled fear and anger._ _I later found out that her boyfriend both physically and psychologically hurt her. It was a one-time thing, she said. She had someone looking after her. She had an understanding family. She had friends to support her. She had herself to support herself. But we relinked during the weekend I was in Cali, and it hurt to see the strong girl I once met becoming helpless like that._

 _So, when I got the job in Cali I moved."_

 _/_

Draco sat in silence. He wanted her to know. Fuck it.

 _/_

 _This is the end of a six-part series that I had the luck of photograph and hear. The man in these pictures asked me kindly to keep his identity to myself. I want to thank him and wish him a great life._

 _So, this is the Part (6/6)_

" _I don't know what happened, but it was like we never broke up back in high school. We didn't mention our past problems but there wasn't a need to bring them back. Neither of us needed explanations and comfort on something that we had left behind a long time ago. Also, we didn't have a romantic relationship, but it felt like we didn't need one._

 _Only God knows how many times we held hands, hugged, went to 'dates' and shared days with each other. But it was all very platonic, and I never had the courage of telling her of my new feelings – because I loved her seriously, without fearing to drag her into my problems but wanting to overcome them with her. So, one day, I put myself together and decided to tell her with a ring on my hand, praying for her to say yes to my craziness._

 _But it was only too late._

 _She had someone in the picture already, and no other than that one best friend that she kept from high school. The guy I pushed into her same situation, closer to her. He was the one looking after her from the beginning, always._ _They got engaged, and now they're getting married in this same park, in just moments. I'm taking up courage to show up. I'm the kid of the rings._

 _It's a little late, but I still have the ring I was going to give her. I won't keep it for someone else, and I won't do anything else than giving it to her… in the right time when my feelings become just one casualty of my time with her. When neither I nor her have anything else to give to our relationship more than a candid smile."_

 _/_

Draco felt okay with how the picture had turned out. He kept looking at that picture for a long time, until his phone rang.

He thought that it was going to be Brandon, about the pictures. But the name spelled in his phone was different.

' ** _Hermione'_**.

"Yes?" he said, suddenly feeling his throat closing up.

" _Hi, Draco_ " Hermione's voice said over the phone. " _Just wanted to call, I thought of you and felt like talking to you_ ".

"Oh, well" Draco said, out of himself, but slowly turning into a warm smile. "How's life, Mrs. Potter?" his tone looked to pick on her, to which he heard a laugh in the other side of the line.

" _Life is good, Draco_ " she replied in a pleased way, softly. " _How's yours?_ "

"Very nice, you'll see", the man stood up and started walking away from his desk. "Today I had a great coffee at the 5th ave…" Draco's voice faded away as he walked away, then having the sound of the door closing behind him to leave his room completely silent.

On his desk, is computer still showed the picture Brandon posted.

Draco was holding between his fingers a silver ring, with a modest stone on the top of it. But that wasn't the thing that stood out the most. It was the bottom half of Draco's face, wearing the same warm smile.

Author's Note:

Hello there! Wow, it's been a while since I posted this one shot and I am glad I went back onto revising it! I know it had a lot of grammar issues, and I apologize for that – up until now I've been trying to perfect and upkeep my English as I am not a native speaker hehe. But now it's been fixed and (hopefully) you won't find those anymore. I personally want to thank all of you who take the time to read me, and for those who have left comments, you really rock! This time I posted a note because this one story is really important for me as a narrative piece and it says a lot of what we normally miss about characters: they are people too and not everything goes their way. Although it is a little bit sad, I think that writing a story in which the pairing doesn't end up together is kind of refreshing but do let me know if you did wanted them to be an item because I do love Dramonie. Anyway, thanks again for reading!


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